Kelso

"I've seen Kellie spelled that way lots of times. Nothing weird about it."

Yes, but I can't tell you how many people ask me if that's the way it's spelled on my birth certificate. As though I'd change my own name or something. I suppose people do, but still. It's not nice to assume someone has ulterior motives when you've only just met them.

WHATSNEW

She was totally angry that people kept pointing out the connection, and now refuses to discuss baby names with us.

I totally feel for her.

We named our son Toby. (Well, Tobias, but he's never called that.) When I was still working, I actually got a lot of flack for the name from several of the black people I worked with. Apparently, there's a VERY intense scene in Roots where one of the slaves was being horribly beaten to force him to change his name from whatever it was to Toby. This scene had REALLY left an impression on the people who hated the name. (I've never seen Roots, but there are names I'm sure I wouldn't pick for similar reasons!) But, like I said, -I've- never seen Roots. (And I'm sure a lot of his elementary school classmates won't have, either.) But it was very frustrating, because it was an association I simply didn't share, and that was the only thing that ruined the name for them. (Heh. Our association was to The West Wing, which is totally where he got his name from. The middle name of Joshua was coincidental, but I find it funny.)

Of course, thanks to Lost, my husband will be happy that I'm dropping the name Juliette from my campaign.

I went to school with a guy named Harry Seman. There's not much you can do with that last name, but Harry is one of the worst names you could pick, I'm sure. My sister was friends with a Ben Dover, and one of the teachers was Richard Weiner. And yes, he went by wingadingdingy. Daring man, teaching high school with that name!

I have a preference for names that are unusual, but not strange. No one raises an eyebrow at the name Toby, but when he was born the nurses told us they hadn't had a Toby in years. But they're hard to find, and even harder to agree on. ::Sigh::

His original name in Roots was Kunta Kinte and he was the ancestor of Alex Haley who came over from Africa. I did not read the book but saw the mini series when it first came out.

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"I've seen Kellie spelled that way lots of times. Nothing weird about it."

Yes, but I can't tell you how many people ask me if that's the way it's spelled on my birth certificate. As though I'd change my own name or something. I suppose people do, but still. It's not nice to assume someone has ulterior motives when you've only just met them.

-Kels

My husband is a Kelly and he hates it because everyone assumes he is a girl. His godson was given the name as a middle name but it is spelled Ceallach.

My pet peeve is people named William Williamson or John Johnson and the like. I figure their parents must have been lazy.

Of course, now that I admitted that in public, 14 of you are going to PM me telling me that your husband's or father's or brother's name was Jeff Jefferson.

-Kels

My paternal grandfather had a name like that. It's common in some places as a "family" name, because that is how the name originally started - the person was William's son, and he was named after his father, so he became William Williamson. And his oldest son was named after him, and so on down the line.

But my mother wouldn't go for it. And I can't do that with my possible future kids, unless they go by my last name instead of their father's.

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You are only young once. After that you have to think up some other excuse.

I had a friend named Lara. I've known her since I was 4 and we went to the same elementary school and high school. She hated being called laura. That was the most common mispronounciation, but the funny part was that people would call her LAra (hard A) or Lahra. I always did LAra. I've known her for 24years and everyone at school called her LAra. Well I went to her wedding a while ago and all of us friends were sitting at the table listening to every family member and Hubby and all of his side call her Lahra. We wondered if we were pronouncing her name wrong for 24 years. Her dad is the only one who pronounces it LAra. We asked and she said she didn't mind it either way, but that was a big difference in pronounciation.

On the other hand for 12 years I grew up with an uncle Buns. I finally figured out that his real name was Jim. I never even thought twice about the name Buns. (I guess it was a childhood nickname because of his large rear)

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My dad's uncle was named Royal John the Baptist XXXXXXX. I didn't know that until I saw his obit. When I first started doing geneology I kept finding names like Joseph Marie XXXX or Theo Marie XXXXXXXX until I found out that it was a common naming practice amongst the French males.

stacykk

My dad was a twin, their names... Earl and Myrl (comic buffs will get a kick out this, their initials were EEK and MEK).

I have a common name, just not a very common spelling for it. So for my son I picked a common name, Thomas. Tommy or Tom for short. But for about two years he went through a phase where the wanted to spell Tom as Thom (but still pronounced Tom). I let him, it's his name, he can use it however he wanted. I think he went back to Tom after family and friends starting calling him Thom (pronouncing it with the TH sound).

I'm old fashioned and like easy to pronounce/spell names, but I have to admit I considered the name MaLisa (my own made up spelling...) when I was pregnant.

sweedetobee

"I've seen Kellie spelled that way lots of times. Nothing weird about it."

Yes, but I can't tell you how many people ask me if that's the way it's spelled on my birth certificate. As though I'd change my own name or something. I suppose people do, but still. It's not nice to assume someone has ulterior motives when you've only just met them.

-Kels

It's not fair to judge you before they know you but almost everyone that I know (meaning know well/am friendly with) whose names ends in "ie" changed the spelling themselves while in high school or college - so I can see where people might think that. Jessica became Jessie, Amanda became Mandie, etc. I have at least 5 friends/friends of friends who changed the spelling of their names/nicknames and that is how they are currently known (except for on legal documents where they have to use their legal names).

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nordique

On the link someone posted, they're talking about "Charles d'Artangon" as being a crappy name. If the parents are literary buffs, why is that a bad name? Charles d'Artangon was a pretty good guy. And yes, I realize that wasn't the parents' intents, but I don't see the problem with naming your child after a literary character. (And I know someone is going to say "Well, why don't you name your kid Gandalf or Frodo?")

If the parents are naming the child Charles d'Artangon in reference to the fourth musketeer, then I would say they are neither literary buffs nor very good at spelling. The fourth musketeer's name was d'Artagnan. If it's a reference to a different character, then I have no problem with naming a child after a literary character. On the contrary, when I have children it's likely I'll be doing the same.

ETA: I hope for Miichael's sake that she'll be a big fan of red tape and very long conversations with bureaucrats.

At least that's better. I actually thought the pronounciation was Ahh Nasty Lynn and wondered why anyone in their right mind would want to name their daughter that.

That's what I read it as, too! And, you know that, if at least 2 of us here misread it, this is not going to be the last time the error is made. Not only that, but can you imagine the poor child on the schoolyard playground? Kids can be cruel, and this name's just begging for it.....

LOL! Everybody is thinking the same, I am sure! I read, re-read, re-re-read, and kept on getting, "Oh, nasty Lynn!" and thinking "Oh, you beasty nasty!"

His original name in Roots was Kunta Kinte and he was the ancestor of Alex Haley who came over from Africa. I did not read the book but saw the mini series when it first came out.

Thanks muchly! One of the guys I work with had told me the original name, but since I wasn't familiar with it, I promptly forgot it.

I could certainly understand that people who'd seen the scene had a bad association with the name. Heck- I would never name a child James/Jim, because my favorite book is Atlas Shrugged and I think of James Taggart when I hear the name. (It's certainly a perfectly nice name.)

Hee. What actually drove me crazy was that I am a HUGE Harry Potter fan. A lot of people assumed I'd want to name our son Harry. I didn't want to, partly because our last name begins with H, and partly because I don't like the name. In fact, JKR and I don't share much taste in nomenclature (although I do like the name Molly). The one name I DO like (Sirius) would be WAY too cruel to inflict on a kid. (I get sick of the line "Are you serious?" "Why yes, I am!" in fanfic- I can't imagine how a kid would feel dealing with it.) Anyway, I SWORE no Harry Potter names. I was five months pregnant when Half-Blood Prince came out.

I was told when I hit the part about Tobias Snape, you could hear my scream in Wisconsin

I like who I am...and my name is part of that. Hopefully, dd will feel that way too.

Good for you! Name her whatever you like. I think people get way too uptight about a name. And the whole government approval thing is massively offensive to me. Tell ME what I'm ALLOWED to name my kid. pfff... I think Miicheal will be just fine. Insecurity is the fault of parenting, not a name.

I'm pretty sure the NZ Govt. will not allow offensive names either, however when you have a gang called the Mongrel Mob where it is not entirely unusual for them to tattoo, yes tattoo (you heard right) 'Mongrel Pup' across a young kid's face, you'd have to wonder what they might want to actually Name them.